Which C.S. Lewis book began his Space Trilogy in 1938?

Out of the Silent Planet began C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy in 1938.

The novel follows Elwin Ransom, a philologist who is abducted and taken to Malacandra, a planet that humans call Mars. Lewis uses the journey to explore language, morality, colonialism, and humanity’s place in the universe. The book combines planetary adventure with theological and philosophical ideas.

The next two novels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Together, the three books form a connected sequence, although their settings and narrative emphasis differ considerably.

Out of the Silent Planet is sometimes described as a simple science-fiction adventure, but its plot also responds to contemporary debates about technology, imperialism, and human nature. Lewis’s friend J.R.R. Tolkien encouraged his interest in writing imaginative fiction, while Lewis’s own Christian worldview strongly shaped the trilogy’s themes.